Barack Obama won’t endorse Charles Rangel

President Barack Obama will not provide a last-minute endorsement to Rep. Charles Rangel of New York ahead of Tuesday’s primary, a Democratic National Committee spokesman says.

“Like 2010 and 2012, the president will not be endorsing in this race,” Michael Czin, a DNC spokesman, said in a statement. “However, he believes that Mr. Rangel has been and continues to be an advocate for quality, affordable health care, fair wages and opportunity for all his constituents.”

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It’s a blow to Rangel, who had been seeking the president’s backing, and who had said that he’s running for a 23rd term because he wants to serve in Congress until the end of Obama’s presidency. POLITICO reported Sunday that the Congressional Black Caucus has been pressing White House aides for a Rangel endorsement, but that they haven’t gotten a response.

Obama and Rangel have never been close. In 2008, Rangel aggressively supported Hillary Clinton, Obama’s chief primary rival. Two years later, while Rangel was embroiled in an ethics controversy, Obama said that the longtime congressman should retire “with dignity” rather than seek reelection.

Rangel is facing state Sen. Adriano Espaillat and two lesser known-opponents, pastor Michael Walrond and activist Yolanda Garcia, in the primary. Espaillat came within 1,100 votes of unseating Rangel, a former House Ways and Means Committee chairman, in 2012.

Obama has endorsed several Democratic incumbents in primaries this year, including Reps. Mike Honda of California and Marc Veasey of Texas.